Dinas Circular Walks

Garn Fawr on Dinas Mountain

Terrain: Open access heathland with sheep tracks. Easy gradients Distance: 2.4 km or 1½ miles Duration: 1 hour Public Transport: Hourly bus service along the main road - A487 - Richards Service Bus No. 412 - between Cardigan, Newport, Fishguard and Haverfordwest - alight at Kiel House Mini Market, Dinas. Walk 50m westwards along the main road and turn left into a mi-nor road at the Cwm Gwaun and Viewpoint sign at Spring Hill. Pass Machpelah Cemetery and climb a steep hill to Rhiwelli Viewpoint. Continue up the hill past the old Coastguard Station and over the cattle grid. The car park is 400m on the right - about 2 km or 1¼ miles from Kiel House. Park on the right hand side near the Glyn Gath ring cairn.

Poppit Rocket - Bus No. 405 - Fishguard to Poppit Sands stopping at Kiel House, Brynhenllan and Pwllgwaelod. Seasonal hail and ride service - 3 times daily. Toilets: None Car Park: Glyn Gath on roadside (GR - SN 366 017)

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1. Start at the off-road parking area near Glyn Gath ring cairn. Bear north-west along a grassy track towards the prominent rocky outcrop of Carn Enoch (GR - SN 370 013).

Throughout the walk, look out for moorland birds such as swallows, wheatears, sparrow hawks, kes-trels, buzzards, red kites and ravens.

Note the strange linear cuts into the rock across some eroded joint planes - they may represent old ‘ogam’ writings.

2. Carn Enoch - bear west towards Garn Fawr, the most massive and impressive rocky outcrop and highest point on Dinas Mountain - 307 metres or 1,007 feet. There are sweeping views north to-wards Fishguard Bay, Dinas Head and Newport Bay and south east towards the Preseli Hills. Gorse is in flower many months of the year and in summer, the yellow of the gorse makes a spectacular con-trast with the purple heather.

3. At Garn Fawr - (GR - SN 369 007) the vista opens out dramatically. To the west in the near distance is Fishguard Bay, in the middle distance Strumble Head and in the far distance is St Davids Head, Carn Llidi and Ramsey Island. In the distant south-west are Skokholm and Skomer Islands, St Brides Bay and Milford Haven.

4. Turn left at Garn Fawr, heading in a southerly direction on level ground for 100m, then turn left again towards the south-east up a grassy track with a slight gradient. The high point of this track gives panoramic views along the Preseli Hills in-cluding, in the middle distance, Foel Eryr at 468 metres or 1,535 feet and Foel Cwmcerwyn in the far distance at 536 metres or 1,758 feet.

5. Proceed in a south easterly direction along a grassy track where ponies and grazing sheep abound on the open mountain and in the enclosed fields. The track descends gradually and leads to the minor road from Llanllawer to Glyn Gath - cars often pull off the road on to this small grassy area.

6. Turn left in an easterly direction on the minor road. Mountain ponies often gather on the hillside to the left, particularly in winter and early spring, where farmers may leave supplementary feed. At other times of the year they may be seen on any part of the mountain as they roam freely. In still conditions in summer, hints of coconut wafting from the gorse add to the spectacular col-ours.

7. As the minor road approaches the ’T’ junction with the Dinas to Gwaun Valley road, bear left across the heath and keep a sharp lookout for Glyn Gath Ring Cairn - a scheduled ancient monu-ment from the 2nd millennium B.C. Ring Cairns are though to have funerary and ritual functions.

8. From Glyn Gath continue eastwards to the mountain road which leads back to the car park. The spectacular view to the north-east sweeps from Newport Bay to Carn Ingli Mountain. Re-turn to the car park adjacent to the monument.

Points of Interest: Spectacular panoramic views in all direc-

tions from the Preseli Hills to St Davids Head and beyond.

Open and accesible unspoilt heathland. Colourful gorse and heather. Mountain ponies and sheep. Wildlife, including swallows, wheatears,

sparrow hawks, kestrels, red kites, buz-zards, ravens

Ancient ring cairn.

Pembrokeshire Coast Visit Wales Yr Hen Ysgol

National Park

© Dinas Community Forum - 2014